GERMANY
Industrial output fell in June
Industrial production in June dropped for the second time in three months, the latest signal of weakness from Europe’s biggest economy. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy yesterday said that production was down 1.5 percent compared with the previous month. That followed a 2 percent decline in April and a 0.1 percent gain in May. Economists had forecast a more modest 0.6 percent drop for June. On Tuesday, official data showed that factory orders increased by an unexpectedly strong 2.5 percent in June.
BANKING
Commerzbank profit steady
Germany’s second-biggest lender, Commerzbank AG, yesterday said that second-quarter profit was steady. Net profit shrank 0.3 percent to 271 million euros (US$303.4 million) and revenue fell 2.2 percent to 2.1 billion euros. Looking ahead to the full year, the bank said in a statement that it expects “higher underlying revenues” compared with last year’s 8.6 billion euros and “a slight increase in consolidated net income” from 865 million euros last year.
BANKING
CBA annual profit falls 8.1%
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), the country’s biggest lender, yesterday posted weaker annual profit for the second year running after a tumultuous year of industry scandals. The bank reported A$8.57 billion (US$5.77 billion) in statutory net profit for the financial year ending June 30, down 8.1 percent from the same period last year, while its preferred earnings measure of cash profit fell 4.7 percent to A$8.49 billion. CBA said that it paid out A$918 million in customer remediation costs in the financial year, along with an additional $358 million to boost compliance.
AIRLINES
Cathay warns over tensions
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd yesterday said that geopolitical and trade tensions are likely to hurt business after the airline rebounded to a profit in the first half of this year. Protests in Hong Kong last month cut inbound passenger traffic and are “adversely” affecting bookings, Cathay said in a statement. First-half net income was HK$1.35 billion (US$172.18 million), compared with a year-ago loss of HK$263 million. With some companies advising staff to put off travel to Hong Kong, second-half performance could come under further pressure, it said.
CONGLOMERATES
Softbank Q1 net profit triples
Softbank Group Corp yesterday said that its first-quarter net profit more than tripled thanks to exceptional gains related to the sale of shares in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴). Softbank announced net profit of ¥1.12 trillion (US$10.54 billion) for the three months to June, up 257.6 percent from the same period last year. Sales rose 2.8 percent to ¥2.34 trillion, while operating profit dipped 3.7 percent to ¥690 billion, it said.
CHEMICALS
DuPont mulls unit spin-off
DuPont de Nemours Inc — fresh off the breakup of chemical giant DowDuPont Inc — is considering unloading its nutrition and biosciences division, people familiar with the matter said. The specialty chemicals maker is working with advisers to evaluate options that could include selling or spinning off the business, the people said. It is also considering a so-called Reverse Morris Trust, or a tax-free merger, with another firm.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by